Tipping point: Jordan Lyles was using the double play to hang in there, but defense ultimately got the best of him. Jose Altuve made the fourth error of the game, trying a wild flip to Marwin Gonzalez and allowing the go-ahead run to score in the fourth. Lyles would allow nine runs before things were done.

On the mound: Yes, Jordan Lyles was forced to suck it up and hang in for five innings, but the bullpen wasn’t much better. Fernando Rodriguez and Francisco Cordero both gave up home runs, putting Cordero’s ERA with the Astros at 19.80.

At the plate: Brett Wallace provided the highlight, launching one homer 428 feet to right-center and another out to left-center for his first career multi-homer game. Wallace is now hitting .333 with a .646 slugging percentage in the majors this year.

Under the radar: This game was pretty blunt, but what’s missed in the box score is the 14-pitch at-bat that ended with Ryan Braun’s opposite-field home run in the sixth. The reigning MVP fouled off seven straight pitches from Rodriguez before heading for the exits.

• • •

MILWAUKEE — Sometimes you just have to hang in there and eat one.

That was the case for Jordan Lyles in Wednesday’s 13-4 loss to the Brewers when he was forced to bear the entire weight of a six-run fifth inning on top of an already ineffective outing in order to protect the Astros’ battered bullpen.

It’s also true of an Astros team that has lost 28 of its last 31 games.

Yes, there are changes coming to the big leagues in the upswing of this rebuilding process. And yes, there are even changes to the roster coming in the month ahead. But with few impact bats and a lack of arms fully cooked at the upper levels, for a while, the Astros will just have to stand in and eat one.

They were outscored 31-12 in the three-game series that ended in a sweep, and this was the easy part of the current stretch. Next up, with no signs of a turnaround in sight, come three games with the Braves and four with the Nationals, both of whom would presently be playoff teams.

The Astros would finish 53-109 at their current pace, and Wednesday’s loss will go down on the rapidly growing list of games in which it is impossible to label one factor as the downfall.

Four errors in the first 32⁄3 innings didn’t decide the game, as no one thing decides a 13-4 game, but they shouldn’t be written off. The Brewers’ first three runs scored on plays that included errors, with Scott Moore making two in the first inning and Milwaukee pulling ahead 3-2 in the fifth on a single that was compounded by an error. The tying run would have scored anyway on a ground ball up the middle, but when Jose Altuve tried to flip it with his glove to Marwin Gonzalez and overshot him, Corey Hart came home easily.

Lyles had another bad break on a blown call in the fifth, when Nyjer Morgan was ruled to have stolen third base safely. The damage in the rest of the inning is hard to place anywhere other than Lyles’ right arm and Milwaukee’s hot bats.

What started out as a small trend has grown, and Lyles’ pattern of giving up big innings when things start to go wrong has become a concern.

“I’ve been trying,” Lyles said of his ability to work out of jams. “The results show that it has been bothering me.”

That was the case Wednesday. The Brewers got six hits in the fifth inning, including the last three for extra bases.

After a Hart double, Lyles stayed in. After Rickie Weeks sent one out of the park to make it 8-2, Lyles stayed in. After Cesar Izturis lined one out down the right-field line, Lyles stayed in until he could retire pitcher Mike Fiers and call it a nine-run (seven earned) day with one fewer out to squeeze from the bullpen.

The Astros have given up four or more runs in 13 consecutive games, one short of a franchise record, and the bullpen is worn out. Tuesday night, it came down to infielder Matt Downs warming up if he were needed. Wednesday, it came down to the familiar feeling of “just eat it.”

“It was tough to leave him in,” manager Brad Mills said of Lyles. “I don’t want to have to do that, but the situation right there, we want to give him the opportunity to get out of the inning.”

Mills came the closest to not having to stick this one out when he had a fairly heated argument after warnings were issued following a minor beanball war. But he was sent back to the dugout rather than the clubhouse, far away from this mess.